NEW YORK, Oct 24: NY cotton futures finished on Tuesday at another 15-year low due to local pressure and spread activity, although key December did not fall below the 1986 trough that operators were expecting fiber prices would crack.

There was no follow-through to push it any lower, Joe Carney of brokers STA Trading Services in Memphis, Tennessee, said. It was choppy.

December cotton slipped 0.05 cent to close at 29.76 cents a lb, ranging from 30 to 29.60 cents, a mark equaling its lifetime low set on Monday.

March slid to a new contract low of 31.35 cents before concluding the session 0.24 cent easier at 31.41 cents.

Almost all of the back months posted new lifetime lows, but eventually finished the session ranging from 0.28 cent softer to 0.05 cent firmer.

Cotton continued to struggle from the weight of bountiful supplies, weak demand and the recessionary impact of the Sept. 11 attacks which hit the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon outside Washington.

Floor sources said small speculators sought to shove cotton below the 29.50 cent level and spark a further slide in futures to areas near 26-28 cents which would mark a near 30-year low in the cotton market.

But scale-down trade support kept cotton from falling past the 29.50 mark although most operators believe it is only a matter of time before it does so.

It will probably stay here for a while, but the trend is down and we’re eventually going to have to go there, a floor broker stated.

A negative backdrop for the market was another decline in the Cotlook A Index, which is used by the trade as an indicator of global cotton demand.

The A Index fell 0.30 cent to 36.10 cents.

Technicians said support for the December cotton contract remains at 29.50, 28 and then 27.80 cents. Resistance in the contract was forecast at 30 and 30.50 cents.

Floor dealers estimated final volume traded at some 7,000 lots, compared with the previous tally of 7,165 lots.—Reuters